Dr. Berardi’s Good Nutrition Rules

Dr. Berardi’s Good Nutrition Rules

To help you out, I’ll show you the exact rules I use, both in my own diet and in those I’ve used with people around the world for years with phenomenal results. For more on how I arrived at these rules, and on how to apply them daily, pick up a copy of Precision Nutrition.

Here they are:

1) Eat every 2-3 hours - no matter what.

Now, you don’t need to eat a full meal every 2-3 hours, but you do need to eat 6-8 meals and snacks that conform to the other rules below.

To make it easier on you, in Precision Nutrition we’ve provided nearly 150 meals and snacks to help you eat great tasting, healthy food more frequently.

2) Eat complete, lean protein each time you eat.

Complete, lean protein generally is food that, well, was an animal or comes from an animal. Things like chicken, beef, fish, dairy, and the like. “Lean” means low fat. So you want stuff with protein, but low fat content (e.g., leaner cuts of meat, low fat dairy, etc.). Are you getting protein in each meal? If not, make the change. Note: If you’re a vegetarian, this rule still applies – just like for the non-vegetarians, I discuss your needs in Precision Nutrition.

3) Eat vegetables every time you eat.

That’s right, every time you eat (every 2-3 hours, right), in addition to a complete, lean protein source, you need to eat some vegetables. You can toss in a piece of fruit here and there as well. But don’t skip the veggies.

To show you that eating veggies isn’t the frightening proposition it used to be, most of the meals contained in Precision Nutrition use veggies in their preparation and actually make them taste good!

4) If want to eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or a vegetable (this includes things like things rice, pasta, potatoes, etc), you can – but you’ll need to save it until after you’ve exercised.

Yes, these grains are dietary staples in North America, but remember that heart disease, diabetes and cancer are medical staples in North American – and there’s a relationship between the two!

To stop heading down the heart disease highway, reward yourself for a good workout with a good carbohydrate meal right after (your body best tolerates these carbohydrates after exercise). For the rest of the day, stick to lean protein and a delicious selection of fruits and veggies.

To make this rule easy on you we’ve labeled the meals in the Precision Nutrition program as Post-Workout (good carb-containing meals to be eaten within a few hours after exercising) and Anytime (good meals for any other time of the day).

5) A good percentage of your diet (25-35%) must come from fat. Just be sure it’s the right kind.

There are 3 types of fat – saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Eating all three kinds in a healthy balance can dramatically improve your health, and even help you lose fat.

Your saturated fat should come from your animal products and you can even toss in some butter or coconut oil for cooking. Your monounsaturated fat should come from mixed nuts, olives, and olive oil. And your polyunsaturated fat should from flaxseed oil, fish oil, and mixed nuts.

The meals contained in Precision Nutrition offer a good variety of healthy fats and teach you why they’re important.

6) Ditch the calorie containing drinks (including fruit juice).

In fact, all of your drinks should come from non-calorie containing beverages. Fruit juice, alcoholic drinks, and sodas – these are all to be removed from your daily fare. Your absolute best choices are water and green tea.

7) Focus on whole foods.

Most of your dietary intake should come from whole foods. There are a few times where supplement drinks and shakes are useful (we’ll discuss them later in the Precision Nutrition program). But most of the time, you’ll do best with whole, largely unprocessed foods.

8) Have 10% foods.

I know you cringed at a few of the rules above – perhaps #6 in particular. But here’s a bit of a break. 10% of the time, you can eat whatever you want.

That’s right, you heard me. 100% nutritional discipline is never really needed to completely change your body. The difference between sticking to the rules 90% of the time and sticking to them 100% of the time is minor, really.

But here’s the catch: make sure you do the math and determine what 10% of the time really means. For example, if you’re eating 6 meals per day for 7 days of the week – that’s 42 meals. 10% of 42 meals is about 4 meals. Therefore you’re allowed to “break the rules” 4 meals each week. If you skip a meal or eat something not on the plan, that counts as breaking the rules!

This program contains mostly 90% foods but I'd imagine that those of you who have eaten pizza for your 10% foods in the past will really enjoy our Chicago Deep Dish Pizza recipe in Precision Nutrition!

9) Develop food preparation strategies.

The hardest part about eating well is making sure you can follow the 8 rules above consistently. Knowing what to eat is pretty useless if you don’t have the time to make the food.

In Precision Nutrition, I’ll teach you strategies for doing this throughout the program. I’ll show you the tricks I teach clients, from shopping right to preparing food in record time; from eating at restaurants to finding someone to cook for you if you have more money than time; and even what gadgets and items can really make it easy for you in the kitchen, at work and on the road.

10) Balance daily food choices with healthy variety.

Let’s face it; during a busy week you’re not going to be spending a ton of time whipping up gourmet meals. So you’re going to need a set of tasty, easy to make foods that you can eat day in and day out. However, once every day or a few times a week – you need to eat something different – something unique. Search the web, ask around, watch the Food Network; come up with some healthy variety.

Or pick up Precision Nutrition, which provides you with both simple foods that you can prepare quickly and gourmet meals you can cook in order to mix things up, impress others, or just treat yourself to something exquisite.

Tomorrow's lesson: Following the 90% percent rule -- when it's okay to break the plan, and how to stop from going overboard.

See you then,

John M. Berardi, Ph.D., C.S.C.S.